It's Neptune Day!

For those of you less familiar with the maritime traditions of Semester at Sea, Neptune Day is a day of celebration for everyone who has crossed the equator for the first time.

I woke up this morning to the banging and clanging of pots and pans and whistles as the crew marched up and down our hallways to beckon us up to the 7th deck. It was a blast. How often do you get woken up at 0730 to party out in the middle of the ocean? So we all gathered onto the outside deck to await the arrival of King Neptune, who was greatly angered by our crossing the equator without his permission. To pass our initiation we were showered with fish guts and forced to kiss a fish. The other tradition is to shave your head, which many did, girls and guys alike. Our ship is going to look like a Make A Wish Foundation ship when we reach our next port. Perhaps a party filled with fish guts and freshly shaved hair flying around doesn't sound like your cup of tea, but we were all ecstatic. It's a right of passage after all.

Lunch time came around and after nice long showers we ambled down to the dining hall to find (drumroll please), it's also Taco Day! Taco day is all anyone ever talks about. Because they are the few and seldom days that we are served something besides pasta and potatoes. And they were the most glorious tacos ever! (Yes, I stopped being a vegetarian for an afternoon. That's how excited I was for real food).

Oh yes, and as for whether or not I'm currently rocking a bald head, I guess you'll just have to sweat that one out.

This Is the Life

...And Then I Ate It

Mmm Piranha!

These Kids Are So Cute!

The World is My Campus

Grapes and Atlantic Waves

Last night I was dreaming that we weren't actually on a ship, but rather a train, and we had reached some country that couldn't afford to put railroad tracks all the way through, so we had to use the roller coaster tracks instead. So there we were, on this massive roller coaster, twisting our way upside down and every which way. Somehow I fell overboard, and that was not a concern, because we have really advanced technology to detect should anyone ever fall overboard. The concern was finding a supermarket and stocking up on food before they discovered that I was missing and found me. So I was scrambling around, dodging the train that was tracking me, trying desperately to buy food at this convenience store before they picked me up again.

I woke up to the ship swaying more violently than we've yet to experience. I guess that explains the roller coaster dream. It was actually kind of nice because work was dead. I guess I've yet to mention anything about my work study. I work in the field office, which is the office that handles all of the trips you can buy through SAS. This also includes all of the FDPs, the trips required for classes. It's been a complete nightmare, because there has been an insurmountable amount of confusion regarding what FDPs people need to be signed up for, and what to do because they booked this super expensive overnight trip that conflicts with this little day trip they need to pass their class. So anyway, everyone was seasick in their cabins when I went into work this morning and I had to deal with relatively few people.

And now, an update on the food situation: they brought out grapes at lunch today!!! All I ever think about (well not really) is how much I miss my morning quart of grapes from Whole Foods. It was the best meal I've had aboard this ship.

So I Bought All These Magnets Before Leaving

...because the walls are magnetic. But I totally forgot to bring any pictures to hang on my wall with said magnets. So if you're ever bored one day, you should write down my next address which is listed under "Contact Me" over there on the right, and send me a cool picture of your lovely face so that I can decorate. =]

Heading Across the Atlantic

Sometime after noon today it was obvious that our journey down the Amazon was over and we are back on the Atlantic. You see, while we were on the Amazon the constant rocking of the ship ceased completely and it was smooth sailing. And then about halfway through work today everyone starting stumbling around again, trying to regain their sea legs.

Our journey will take us nine days total. Nine days of pasta and potatoes and iceberg lettuce. I'm already sick of it and bought a muffin from the snack bar for dinner instead.

Rumor has it that five students from our Amazon adventure (yes, the one I went on) have been quarantined. It's a little concerning.

The Amazon

I'm in Brazil. I'm sailing up the Amazon in a river boat. I'm in Brazil... I keep repeating that to myself over and over again and no matter how many times I say it, I can't comprehend it. My life has become something out of a book. Or a movie. Something you dream of constantly but somewhere in the back of your mind seem to accept that such adventures don't actually happen in real life. So you can't blame me for believing that I'm about to wake up back in Boulder, school five days a week, two jobs, barely enough money to pay rent... And yet here I am. The past four days have been more of an adventure then I ever could have imagined. I lived on an open air river boat with twelve other students and a crew that became our family. We slept in hammocks as we sailed up the Amazon river. We hiked three hours through the rainforest, visited a local village and played soccer and drew pictures with the local kids. We camped out in the jungle and roasted chicken skewered on sticks that we found and ate it off of palm leaves. We actually slept in the middle of the Amazon rainforest with all sorts of terrifying creatures from your nightmares, with nothing but our hammocks, but hey, it was the most unbelievable night of my life. We bathed in the river. We swam with pink dolphins. We fished for piranhas out in the pouring rain with bamboo sticks in a little canoe. I actually caught the biggest piranha you've ever seen, which we brought back to our cook on our little boat who prepared it into a gourmet meal for me. We went back out in the canoe at dusk to spot caimans - a smaller species of alligator. I actually held one. We visited an indigenous tribe who were kind enough to preform some of their ceremonial dances for us, and then invited us to dance with them.

I'm in Brazil. I'm sailing down the Amazon in a river boat. Forgive me for laying out nothing but the bare-bone facts but to go into depth of what I've experienced would take an entire novel. Maybe I'll post everything on here once I write it all down, maybe not, depending on how long it is. But ask me someday and I will tell you the complete story. It's a good one; I promise.